Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Novel simplified equations for Vierendeel design of beams with

(elongated) circular openings
Pattamad Panedpojaman a,⁎, Thaksin Thepchatri b, Suchart Limkatanyu a
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Vierendeel bending is the dominant failure mode of steel beams with openings. The Vierendeel mechanism
Received 22 May 2014 involves three interacting drivers, namely the axial force, the shear force and the Vierendeel bending moment.
Accepted 17 April 2015 This study proposes an alternative design method to check for the Vierendeel failure of non-composite symmet-
Available online xxxx
ric cellular beams, or steel beams with circular or elongated circular openings. The method is based on a quadratic
nonlinear failure criterion, using normalized driving forces, their simplified actions, and an approximate critical
Keywords:
Design
section location and angle. Accuracy of the method is assessed with 20 literature curated experiments. In addi-
Vierendeel failure tion, based on a parametric simulation study, the normalized moment-shear-interaction curves obtained from
Moment-shear-interaction the proposed method agree well with these curves from finite elements (FE). Compared with the FE shear
Cellular beam loads at failure, the designed shear loads calculated based on the member resistances recommended in both
Perforated beam BS EN 1993-1-1 and ANSI/AISC 360-10 are conservative. However, for steel beams with elongated circular open-
ings, using the resistances based on the BS EN 1993-1-1, the proposed design improves the accuracy by about 16%
on an average relative to the SCI P355 method. In relation to other currently available design approaches, the pro-
posed method is a simpler alternative for the Vierendeel bending check. No nonlinear reduction of the web thick-
ness, to account for high shear, is required. Furthermore, the method simultaneously addresses the combined
global bending from flexure, shear and Vierendeel. The proposed method thus facilitates safe and cost-
effective design of beams with openings.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The performance of a cellular beam depends on its geometric details,
such as web or flange thickness, opening diameter, opening spacing and
beam depth, among others. Many design methods have been developed
to check for a cellular beam’s resistance against various failure modes.
The following failure modes are the most common ones for these
beams: web-post buckling, Vierendeel mechanism, global bending,
global shear, rupture of the web-post weld, and lateral torsional buck-
ling or distortional buckling [1]. However, web-post buckling and
Vierendeel mechanism are considered the dominant failures. The web
post buckling may be critical in steel beams with closely spaced web
openings. The Vierendeel failure mode is widely found in experiments
with the small Tee area [2–7].
For a steel beam with openings as shown in Fig. 1(a), the shear force
across the opening causes secondary moments (Vierendeel bending
moments) in the Tee sections. Interaction of the secondary moments
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 74 28 7140; fax: +66 74 45 9396.
E-mail address: ppattamad@eng.psu.ac.th (P. Panedpojaman).
with the global bending moment and the shear force is called the
Vierendeel mechanism. Generally, the interaction is assumed to form
four plastic hinges in the top and bottom Tees as shown in Fig. 1(b).
SCI P100 [8] evaluated the load carrying capacity of cellular beams
under Vierendeel failure through a linear interaction between the local
axial ratio and the moment ratio in the Tees. These ratios vary depending
on the locations of Tee sections around the openings. This method recom-
mends selecting the critical Tee section at 25o from the vertical center line
of the openings. The results are generally overly conservative by up to 40%
[2,9]. To simplify the computations in SCI P100, a circular opening is re-
placed by an equivalent rectangular opening [10,11]. To prevent
Vierendeel failure in the section with an opening, the Vierendeel bending
resistances of the Tees must exceed their Vierendeel bending moments.
The Vierendeel bending moment is computed based on an assumed effec-
tive length of the opening as shown in Fig. 1(c). The Vierendeel bending
resistance, on the other hand, is the sum of the moment resistances at
the four corners. The global moment and shear load also affect the com-
puted resistance. Even though the equivalent method is simple and less
conservative, in some cases it may also be quite conservative in assessing
the Vierendeel bending resistance. Furthermore, a nonlinear reduction of
web thickness to account for high shear is required in both these
methods.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2015.04.007
0143-974X/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 1. Vierendeel mechanism in a steel beam with a circular opening: (a) Vierendeel
failure, (b) plastic hinges and (c) Vierendeel bending and effective length.
In addition to the development of approximate theories, also numeri-
cal simulations of perforated steel beams [12–14] are used to investigate
the Vierendeel mechanism in terms of stress distributions and moment-
shear-interactions of the sections. According to these studies, the stress
distribution in perforated sections under Vierendeel failure indicates
shear yielding in the web of top and bottom Tee sections, and this pro-
motes the formation of plastic hinges. Furthermore, the critical section lo-
cation varies depending on the moment-shear-interaction [12].
Various empirical interaction formulae have been proposed. The
moment-shear-interactions of steel sections with openings are widely
approximated by a nonlinear curve, with terms of order 2 [14,15], 2.5
[12], or 3 [16]. Note that the moment-shear-interactions in solid rectan-
gular plates are generally assumed nonlinear with exponent 2 [14]. To in-
clude the effects of a Vierendeel mechanism, the interaction curve is
modified with Vierendeel coefficients as predetermined parameters.
The coefficients are derived based on empirical studies, and their values
depend on the web opening shapes and the opening depth ratios [14,15].
As a result, this method is limited to interpolate the geometries that were
used to generate the data from which the parameters were derived.
Due to the limitations of these available methods, this study
develops simple but effective design equations for the Vierendeel bend-
ing resistance of cellular beams based on basic mechanics and a
moment-shear interaction relationship. The proposed design equations
are limited to non-composite symmetric cellular beams, or steel beams
with circular or elongated circular openings, which are normally used
for roof structures. The equations are validated against experimental re-
sults from literature. Furthermore, the limitations of the equations with
cellular beams and with steel beams that have circular openings are also
investigated through a parametric study using finite element analysis,
which allows a wider range of exploration than what the published ex-
periments can cover, and also gives a view of the stresses at failure, thus
generating insights.
2. Vierendeel mechanism and design
Consider a non-composite symmetric steel beam with a circular
opening of diameter do at its mid height, under the global bending mo-
ment Msd and the global shear force Vsd at the center of the web opening,
11
as shown in Fig. 1(b). According to an investigation of the stress distri-
bution in the beam section with a circular opening under Vierendeel
failure, yielding of the web in the top and bottom Tee sections promotes
the formation of plastic hinges [12]. The steel section can be separated
into two sides: the low moment side and the high moment side. For
symmetric steel beams, the global shear force Vsd and the axial force
Nsd corresponding to Msd are equally shared by the top and bottom
Tee sections. Therefore, the shear and axial forces at the center line of
opening in the Tee section is as shown in Fig. 2, these forces equaling
Vsd/2 and Nsd. This is applicable in sections not affected by any concen-
trated load or support.
Due to the global bending moment and shear force, locally three
driving forces co-exist, namely axial force Nsd,θ, shear force Vsd,θ, and
bending moment MV,θ in the Tee section at an angle θ from the vertical
center line, as shown in Fig. 2 [8]. The local bending moment MV,θ is con-
sidered the Vierendeel bending moment.
The co-existing actions in the low moment side (LMS) act at the cen-
troid of the Tee section at an angle θ from the vertical center line, and are
given by:
V sd;θ ¼ ðV sd =2Þ cosθ−ðNsd Þ sinθ ð1Þ
Nsd;θ ¼ ðNsd Þ cosθ þ ðV sd =2Þ sinθ ð2Þ
MV;θ ¼ ðV sd =2ÞðH=2−yθ cosθÞ tanθ−ðNsd Þðyθ cosθ−yÞ ð3Þ
The co-existing actions in the high moment side (HMS) act at the cen-
troid of the tee-section at an angle θ from the vertical center line, and
are given by:
V sd;θ ¼ ðV sd =2Þ cosθ þ ðN sd Þ sinθ ð4Þ
Nsd;θ ¼ ðNsd Þ cosθ−ðV sd =2Þ sinθ ð5Þ
MV;θ ¼ ðV sd =2ÞðH=2−yθ cosθÞ tanθ þ ðNsd Þðyθ cosθ−yÞ ð6Þ
where
M sd
Nsd ¼ 0 ð7Þ
d


2
b f t f 2 þ t w ðH=2−do =2Þ −t f 2
y¼ ð8Þ
2At
The Nsd is the axial force in the Tee section at the vertical center line;
H is the perforated beam depth; y is the distance from the top edge to
centroid of the Tee section along the vertical center line of the hole
given in Eq. (8); yθ is the distance from the top edge to centroid of the
Tee section along a line at angle θ from vertical; d ' is the distance be-
tween centroid of the top and the bottom Tee sections along the vertical
0
center line, d ¼ H−2y; bf is the flange width; tf and tw are the flange
thickness and the web thickness; and At is the area of a Tee sections.
The yθ can also be computed from Eq. (8) by substituting the parameters
for an inclined section.
Consider Vsd,θ in Eqs. (1) and (4). Generally, the magnitude of Nsd is
large relative to Vsd. Therefore, Nsd may dominate in Vsd,θ. However,
Nsd actually peaks in the flange whereas Vsd mainly is transmitted by
the web. The axial force in the flange cannot completely distribute to
the web. In other words, Nsd might not affect Vsd,θ. Consequently, this
study assumes that in the low and high moment sides
V sd;θ ≈V sd =2 ð9Þ
The same assumption was also made in SCI P100 [8].
12 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21

Fig. 2. Three co-existing actions due to global bending moment and shear force.

In order to allow for the co-existing actions, a linear interaction According to simulated stress distributions in perforated sections
formula is proposed in [8]: under Vierendeel failure [12], the critical section varies from 0° under
pure moment load to approximately 28° under pure shear load. To sim-
Nsd;θ M V;θ plify the computations, the critical Tee section at 25o from the vertical
þ ≤1 ð10Þ
Nt;rd;θ Mt;rd;θ center line of opening is used here, as recommended by [8]. From the fi-
nite element analysis in Section 4.2, it is found that the critical section at
where Nt,rd,θ is the axial force resistance of the Tee section at an angle θ 25o can also be applied for an elongated circular opening, as shown in
from the vertical center line; and Mt,rd,θ is the moment resistance Fig. 3. The critical location is very close to the edge of an elongated
resisting the Vierendeel moment in the Tee section at an angle θ from opening.
the vertical center line. Shear force interactions are generally accounted Based on the numerical study, the axial ratio Nsd,θ/Nt,rd,θ does not
by a nonlinear reduction in the web thickness, giving a so-called vary much for θ values from 0o to 25o, especially under high moment
effective web thickness. This reduction is based on the shear force loads. Therefore, Nsd,θ/Nt,rd,θ can be approximated by Nsd =Nt;rd;0o . Gener-
ratio Vsd/Vo,rd only in the presence of a high shear force: Vsd/Vo,rd N 0.5 ally, Nsd =Nt;rd;0o is slightly conservative compared with Nsd;25o =Nt;rd;25o .
[8,10,11]. Vo,rd is the shear resistance of the section at the opening. The Furthermore, the shear ratio V sd;25o =V t;rd;25o can also be conservatively
interactions effects of a low shear force are neglected. It has been approximated by the ratio at the center line, ðV sd =2Þ=V t;rd;0o , since the
shown that the linear interaction formula in Eq. (10) provides a very critical Tee section at 25o is larger than the section at the center line.
conservative design [9]. Therefore, a nonlinear interaction formula is The Vierendeel bending moment occurs due to transferring shear
used instead [10,11]. and axial forces across an opening. The Vierendeel moment ratio over-
In the current study we modified the general moment-shear interac- whelmingly dominates the interaction in Eq. (11) when the axial ratio
tion in solid rectangular plates, which is a quadratic nonlinear relation- or the axial force is low. In such case, the moments obtained from the
ship. The interacting axial force Nsd,θ, shear force Vsd,θ and Vierendeel shear force in Eq. (3) and Eq. (6) are larger than that obtained from
bending moment MV,θ are required to jointly satisfy: the axial force. The Vierendeel bending moment can be simply comput-
ed by neglecting the axial force. Redwood [17] recommended a simpli-
 2  2  2
V sd;θ Nsd;θ MV;θ fied moment arm of the Vierendeel bending moment based on an
þ þ ≤1 ð11Þ equivalent rectangular opening. The simplified moment arm for the
V t;rd;θ Nt;rd;θ M t;rd;θ
critical section is the so-called effective length, leff.
where Vt,rd,θ is the shear resistance of the Tee section at an angle θ from
the vertical center line. With this simultaneous criterion, no web thick- leff ¼ 0:45do for circular openings
leff ¼ lo −0:55do for elongated openings ð12Þ
ness reduction is required.

Fig. 3. Critical section: (a) circular opening and (b) elongated opening.
 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21 13

where lo is the total length of the elongated opening. Therefore, the bf

Vierendeel bending moment is simply computed as tf
MV;25o ¼ ðV sd =2Þleff =2 ð13Þ

These assumptions are also adopted in SCI P355 [11].

0.5t f r
Through the simplifications, the combined criterion of the Tee sec-
st
Shear area
tion in Eq. (11) can be rewritten as
!2 !2 !2
V sd =2
þ
N sd
þ
MV;25o
≤1 ð14Þ tw
V t;rd;0o Nt;rd;0o M t;rd;25o

Fig. 4. Shear area of a non-perforated Tee section according to BS EN 1993-1-1.

where

V t;rd;0o ¼ V o;rd =2 ð15Þ

Vo,rd is the shear resistance of the perforated section at the center line
Due to the presence of the opening in the web, the shear and moment
of the hole. Since the axial force Nsd varies as Msd , as described in
resistance of the section are degraded. The reduction in shear resistance
Eq. (7), the axial force ratio can be substituted with the moment
is more severe than the reduction in the moment resistance.
ratio, Msd/Mo,rd. Mo,rd is the moment resistance of the perforated section.
The characteristic moment resistance of a vertical Tee section, Mt,rd,
According to the above reformulating and with M V;25o from Eq. (13), the
at the yielding and plastic limit states, My,t,rd and Mp,t,rd, are given in
interaction relationship in Eq. (14) can be rewritten as Eqs. (25) and (26), respectively.
 2  2  2
V sd Msd V sd leff My;t;rd ¼ f y St ð25Þ
þ þ ≤1 ð16Þ
V o;rd Mo;rd MV o;rd
Mp;t;rd ¼ f y Z t ð26Þ
where
    !
st t f At tf At At 2
MV o;rd ¼ 4Mt;rd;25o ð17Þ Z t ¼ At;w þ − þ At; f − þ =t f ð27Þ
2 2 2b f 2 2b f 2b f
MVo,rd is the Vierendeel bending moment resistance of the section at the  
opening. This equation explicitly considers all the forces acting at the At;w ¼ st −t f t w ð28Þ
perforated section. As depicted in Fig. 1, the overall perforated section
is subject to the global moment, the global shear and the sum of the At; f ¼ b f t f ð29Þ
Vierendeel bending moment at the four corners of the opening.
For hot-rolled steel beams with compact sections, the characteristic where St is the elastic section modulus of the Tee section; and Zt are the
moment resistance, Mo,rd, can be based on BS EN 1993-1-1 [18] giving plastic section modulus of the Tee section. The vertical Tee depth, st, of
B
Mo,rd, or on ANSI/AISC 360-10 [19] giving MAo,rd, as follows: the critical section in Figs. 3 and 4 calculated from the location of the
critical section as
MBo;rd ¼ f y Z o ð18Þ
st ¼ ðH−0:9do Þ=2 for a circular opening ð30Þ

MAo;rd ¼ f yZo ð19Þ st ¼ ðH−do Þ=2 for an elongated circular opening; ð31Þ
0
Z o ¼ At d ð20Þ The moment Mt,rd can be transformed to obtain the moment resis-
tance of the inclined Tee section Mt,rd,θ, see Fig. 3, by substituting the rel-
where fy is the yield stress of the steel; and Zo is the plastic section evant parameters for the inclined section. However, it is inconvenient to
modulus of the perforated section. compute the moment resistance M t;rd;25o in Eq. (17) based on the above
According to BS EN 1993-1-1, the characteristic shear resistance,
rational approach. For a wide range of circular perforated steel sections
V Bo,rd, is calculated based on the shear area consisting of the outstanding
with various sizes of steel beam section, it can be shown numerically
web and some portion from the flange as illustrated in Fig. 4, as given in
that M t;rd;25o is higher than Mt,rd by about 17–21%. Comparisons of the
Eq. (21). In ANSI/AISC 360-10, however, the shear resistance, V Ao,rd, is
moment resistance ratio for selected UB and W sections are tabulated
computed based on the total depth of the Tees as given in Eq. (22).
in Table 1. Therefore, for a simple and conservative design, the moment
resistance of the inclined Tee section at 25o, M t;rd;25o , can be approximat-
V Bo;rd ¼ 0:577f y ABvo ð21Þ
ed by
V Ao;rd ¼ 0:6f y AAvo C v ð22Þ Mt;rd;25o ≈1:17M t;rd ð32Þ
 
ABvo ¼ 2 st −t f t w þ t f ð2r þ t w Þ þ ð4−πÞr 2 ð23Þ According to BS EN 1993-1-1, the moment resistance of the vertical
Tee section of the compact section is Mp,t,rd. Therefore, the design
AAvo ¼ ðH−do Þt w ð24Þ Vierendeel bending moment resistance (BS EN 1993-1-1), MVBo,rd, in
Eq.(17) is rewritten as
where ABvo and AAvo are the shear areas of the perforated section according
 
to BS EN 1993-1-1 and ANSI/AISC 360-10, respectively; st is the Tee MV Bo;rd ¼ 4M t;rd;25o ≈ 4 1:17Mp;t;rd ð33Þ
depth; r is the root radius of the Tee as shown in Fig. 4; and Cv is the
web shear coefficient that depends on the web shape, the web plate However, from ANSI/AISC 360-10, the moment resistance of a compact
shear buckling coefficient, and the mechanical steel properties [19]. Tee section differs between tension and compression. The nominal
14 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21

Table 1
The moment resistance ratios of selected UB and W sections.

do/H Mt;rd;25o =M t;rd

UB203 × 133 × 25 UB457 × 152 × 52 UB610 × 229 × 140 W8 × 8 × 31 W14 × 16 × 370 W24 × 9 × 94

0.25 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.21

0.40 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.21
0.50 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.20
0.60 1.20 1.20 1.20 1.21 1.21 1.20
0.70 1.20 1.19 1.20 1.20 1.21 1.19
0.80 1.19 1.18 1.18 1.20 1.21 1.19
0.85 1.18 1.17 1.18 1.20 1.21 1.19

moment resistance for a stem in tension, M1At,rd, is obtained from the checking the Vierendeel failure of steel beams with circular openings.
limit state of yielding as The proposed method needs no such nonlinear reduction of the web
thickness due to the presence of high shear as used in SCI P100 and
M1At;rd ¼ M p;t;rd ≤1:6My;t;rd ð34Þ SCI P355. Furthermore, a criterion that combines the global flexural,
global shear and Vierendeel bending is available.
whereas the nominal moment resistance for a stem in compression,
M2At,rd, is 3. Experimental validation

M2At;rd ¼ M y;t;rd
Since MVo,rd is the sum of the Vierendeel bending moment resistances at
the four corners of the opening, the nominal moment resistance, MV Ao,rd,
according to ANSI/AISC 360-10 is given by


MV Ao;rd ≈1:17 2M1At;rd þ 2M2At;rd
Based on the variations of the critical angle for UB 457 × 152 × 52
S275, reported in [12] as shown in Fig. 5(a), a comparison of the
moment-shear-interactions with the relationship in Eq. (11) and the
simplified relationship in Eq. (16) is illustrated in Fig. 5(b). Only
member strengths based on the BS EN 1993-1-1 were used in the calcu-
lations. The steel beam UB 457 × 152 × 52 S275 had a circular opening
ratio do/H = 0.75. Note that the moment-shear-interaction in Eq. (11)
was derived with variation of the critical angle for the low and high mo-
ment sides, and without the simplification of Nsd,θ and MV,θ. As shown in
Fig. 5(b), the simplified relationship of the proposed method (PPM)
provides a slightly conservative interaction curve that is close to the in-
teraction curve of the high moment side.
Relative to other current design approaches, such as the method rec-
ommended by SCI P100 and SCI P355, the proposed method is easier for
ð35Þ The proposed design equation for the Vierendeel failure was validat-
ed against literature curated data for 20 non-composite steel beam
specimens [2–7], 7 cellular beams, and 13 perforated beams. The perfo-
rated steel beams had circular openings or elongated openings at the
mid-height of their webs. All the experimental cases failed by the
Vierendeel mechanism reported in the literature. A yielding of the
web surrounding the opening was seen rather than definite plastic
ð36Þ
hinges. The web yielding was displaced slightly to the load side of the
opening [2].
The experimental parameters of cellular beams and perforated
beams are documented in Table 2. The case labels CB, CP and EP refer
to cellular beams, circular perforated beams, and elongated circular per-
forated beams, respectively. The experimental parameters were as fol-
lows: s is the spacing of the opening; L is the span length; LP is the
distance between the point load to the left support; LO is the distance
between the support to the critical openings, and fy,w and fy,f are the
yield stresses of webs and flanges. Specimens with elongated circular
openings had an opening width of 2do. The geometries of the specimens
are illustrated in Fig. 6. The web stiffeners were set at the support and at
the location of the point load for all specimens, to distribute the concen-
trated load, with the exception of specimen CB7. Most specimens were
beams with a simple support, whereas CP1 to CP3 were cantilever
beams.

(a) (b)

Fig. 5. Comparisons of the moment-shear interactions. (a) Critical angles [12], and (b) normalized moment-shear-interaction curves.
 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21 15

Table 2
Details of the literature curated experimental beams.

Specimen Beam sections H bf tw tf r⁎⁎ s do L LO LP fyf fyw Msd Vsd Ref.

mm mm mm mm mm mm mm m m m Mpa Mpa kN.m kN Exp. No. Tested by

CB1 UB 203 × 133 × 25 289.8 133.2 5.7 7.8 7.6 300 200 3.10 1.40 L/2 310 328 83.7 59.8 1A [2]
CB2 UB 203 × 133 × 25 289.8 133.2 5.7 7.8 7.6 300 200 5.50 1.68 L/3, 2L/3 323 354 90.9 54.0 1B
CB3 UB 203 × 133 × 25 309.3 133.2 5.7 7.8 7.6 300 225 3.80 1.75 L/2 320 347 98.0 56.0 2A
CB4 UB 203 × 133 × 25 309.3 133.2 5.7 7.8 7.6 300 225 5.60 1.72 L/3, 2L/3 343 394 100.4 58.5 2B
CB5 UB 305 × 102 × 25 435.0 101.6 5.8 7.0 7.6 450 300 3.80 1.68 L/2 350 370 126.5 75.5 3A
CB6 UB 305 × 102 × 25 435.0 101.6 5.8 7.0 7.6 450 300 4.20 1.18 L/3, 2L/3 337 343 113.4 96.5 3B
CB7 NPI–260 394.5 113 9.4 14.1 9.4 389 286 2.83 1.42 L/2 285 285 153.6 108.5 [7]
CP1 H400 × 200 × 8 × 12 400 200 8.0 12.0 16.0 – 210 1.80 0.385 L 259.8 259.8 297.2 210.0 SPB [6]
CP2 H400 × 200 × 8 × 12 400 200 8.0 12.0 16.0 – 250 1.80 0.385 L 259.8 259.8 283.0 200.0 SPC
CP3 H400 × 200 × 8 × 12 400 200 8.0 12.0 16.0 – 290 1.80 0.385 L 259.8 259.8 219.3 155.0 SPD
CP4⁎ UB305 × 165 × 40 303.4 165.0 6.00 10.20 8.9 900 231 1.50 0.300 2L/5, 3L/5 337.5 299 41.1 137.0 [5]
CP5 W8 × 17 206.4 133.4 6.33 8.23 6.7 – 114.3 1.52 0.457 L/2 350.9 375.1 60.1 131.4 2A [3]⁎⁎⁎
CP6⁎ W8 × 17 204.2 133.4 5.94 7.52 6.7 228.6 114.3 1.52 0.686 L/2 296.5 304.7 79.0 115.2 2C
CP7⁎ W8 × 17 206.4 133.4 6.30 8.15 6.7 171.7 114.3 1.52 0.629 L/2 313 370.9 77.4 123.0 2D
CP8 W8 × 17 206.4 133.4 6.22 8.20 6.7 – 114.3 2.54 0.762 2L/5 310.3 359.9 64.3 84.4 3A
CP9⁎ W8 × 17 206.4 133.4 6.25 8.18 6.7 228.6 114.3 2.54 1.448 3L/5 295.1 399.9 84.9 58.6 4C
CP10⁎ W8 × 17 206.4 133.4 6.30 8.28 6.7 171.7 114.3 2.54 1.390 3L/5 330.9 370.9 86.0 61.8 4D
CP11 431.0 183.4 7.01 10.74 14.5 – 118.6 2.03 0.539 L/2 297.2 320.6 202.4 375.9 C1 [4]⁎⁎⁎
EP1 W8 × 17 204.2 133.4 5.92 7.52 6.7 – 114.3 1.52 0.457 L/2 319.9 312.3 23.8 52.2 2B [3]⁎⁎⁎
EP2 W8 × 17 206.4 133.4 6.20 8.18 6.7 – 114.3 2.54 1.219 3L/5 296.5 351.6 57.6 47.3 4B

Notes.
⁎ Two circular openings in the beams.
⁎⁎ r of CB7, CP5-CP11 and EP1-EP2 based on a similar section.
⁎⁎⁎ Reported in [20].

For webs with multiple openings, Vierendeel failure is found in the openings in that beam. Since all specimens are subject to point loads,
opening nearest to the point load on the low moment side. The moment the moment at a given location of the specimen is directly proportional
and shear ratios in such failure openings are more critical than the other to the shear load. Therefore, only the experimental shear load at the
center of the failed opening was used to validate the accuracy of the pro-
posed method. Computed shear loads named PPM-BSEN and PPM-AISC
refer to loads that satisfy the proposed design equation with the com-
puted design strength from BS EN 1993-1-1 and ANSI/AISC 360-10, re-
(a) spectively. Shear loads computed from other available methods such
as, SCI P100 [8], SCI P355 [11], and the formula by Chung et al. [15]
were also investigated. Note that the shear loads named SCI P355 are
loads computed with the BS EN 1993-1-1 recommended strength. Com-
parison of the shear loads and the corresponding statistical values such
as their mean, standard deviation (SD), and coefficient of variation (CV)
are also shown in Table 3.
As illustrated in Table 3, the formula by Chung et al. accurately predict-
(b) ed the shear loads. However, this formula is limited by its predetermined
coefficients specific to each geometric configuration of web openings and
the opening ratio, do/H. The formula is not suitable for general use and
cannot be applied to asymmetric steel beams. The computational results
of SCI P100 are very conservative, on an average by 28% and maximally
by 49% relative to the experimental results. The shear loads obtained
from SCI P355 and PPM-BSEN are slightly conservative by about 13% on
an average. Compared to the proposed method, SCI P355 provides higher
shear loads for small opening depth ratios, do/H b 0.65, and lower shear
(c) loads for large circular opening ratios. For elongated circular openings,
however, PPM-BSEN tends to provide results close to the experiments.
Results from PPM-AISC turned out to be more conservative than those
from PPM-BSEN. This was due to the lower recommended nominal
shear strength of the Tee sections.
The effects of geometric configuration of the web openings on the
shear load should be further investigated, to assess the accuracy and lim-
itations of each method. Furthermore, the experimental results in the lit-
(d) erature are limited to select moment and shear ratios. Since not enough
data are available to investigate the accuracy over a wide range, a para-
metric study using finite element (FE) simulations is performed.

4. FE investigation

Fig. 6. Geometric details of specimens: (a) CB, (b) CP with simple support, (c) CP with FE models were used to investigate the geometry effects of beams
fixed support, and (d) EP. with circular or elongated openings on the Vierendeel failure. The FE
16 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21

Table 3
Details of the perforated beam specimens.

Specimen do/H Shear loads at the failed opening Vdesign/VTest V FE

V Test

Test Chung et al SCI P100 SCI P355 PPM-BSEN PPM-AISC FE Chung et al SCI P100 SCI P355 PPM-BSEN PPM-AISC

CB1 0.69 59.8 63.2 47.5 59.0 59.3 52.0 69.2 1.06 0.79 0.99 0.99 0.87 1.16
CB2 0.69 54.0 59.2 45.0 54.3 55.6 50.0 60.7 1.10 0.83 1.01 1.03 0.93 1.12
CB3 0.73 56.0 57.0 42.5 52.4 53.8 47.0 66.0 1.02 0.76 0.94 0.96 0.84 1.18
CB4 0.73 58.5 63.0 47.5 58.0 59.8 51.5 67.1 1.08 0.81 0.99 1.02 0.88 1.15
CB5 0.69 75.5 83.5 64.5 76.8 78.0 73.0 84.0 1.11 0.85 1.02 1.03 0.97 1.11
CB6 0.69 96.5 99.5 75.5 93.7 92.5 84.0 98.3 1.03 0.78 0.97 0.96 0.87 1.02
CB7 0.72 108.5 119.0 84.0 105.8 106.0 90.7 116.9 1.10 0.77 0.98 0.98 0.84 1.08
CP1 0.53 210.0 170.5 131.0 170.0 164.0 146.0 175.9 0.81 0.62 0.81 0.78 0.70 0.84
CP2 0.63 200.0 146.0 108.0 146.2 144.0 118.5 159.3 0.73 0.54 0.73 0.72 0.59 0.80
CP3 0.73 155.0 114.0 85.0 117.1 118.0 84.8 124.4 0.74 0.55 0.76 0.76 0.55 0.80
CP4 0.76 137.0 84.3 78.0 92.0 86.9 54.3 111.8 0.62 0.57 0.67 0.63 0.40 0.82
CP5 0.55 131.4 116.8 92.0 116.5 109.0 95.0 139.8 0.89 0.70 0.89 0.83 0.72 1.06
CP6 0.56 115.2 75.7 58.5 75.1 70.5 63.2 90.0 0.66 0.51 0.65 0.61 0.55 0.78
CP7 0.55 123.0 97.5 76.5 96.2 90.0 80.5 107.6 0.79 0.62 0.78 0.73 0.65 0.87
CP8 0.55 84.4 86.5 68.6 84.4 79.5 72.5 91.6 1.02 0.81 1.00 0.94 0.86 1.09
CP9 0.55 58.6 53.5 47.0 49.7 50.0 48.0 55.6 0.91 0.80 0.85 0.85 0.82 0.95
CP10 0.55 61.8 60.0 50.6 55.6 55.5 53.2 62.1 0.97 0.82 0.90 0.90 0.86 1.00
CP11 0.28 375.9 346.0 322.0 412.8 372.0 341.0 338.4 0.92 0.86 1.10 0.99 0.91 0.90
EP1 0.56 70.1 50.6 46.6 47.0 50.5 35.2 65.3 0.72 0.66 0.67 0.72 0.50 0.93
EP2 0.55 47.3 42.0 36.5 38.3 44.2 32.1 51.7 0.89 0.77 0.81 0.93 0.68 1.09
Mean 0.91 0.72 0.87 0.87 0.75 0.99
STD 0.16 0.11 0.13 0.14 0.16 0.14
COV 0.17 0.16 0.15 0.16 0.22 0.14

models were validated against the experimental results. Furthermore, gradually in 100 step increments. When a solution approached the fail-
stress distributions in these simulations were observed, specifically ure load, the size of load increments was automatically varied in order
the critical section and its angle that were estimated on deriving the to achieve convergence. The Von Mises yield criterion was adopted to
new design equations. define the yield point of steel.
Before their uses in the Vierendeel investigation, the beam models
4.1. FE modeling and validation were validated against the experiments in Table 2 in terms of failure
mode, failure shear load at the critical openings, and shear load vs. de-
The FE models were simulated with ANSYS software [21] using the flection curves at the mid-span. Due to asymmetry, the FE models sim-
four-node shell element (Shell181) for a steel beam [22,23]. The ele- ulated the full beam length. To conservatively evaluate the failure load,
ment sizes from H/25 to H/20 were selected based on a sensitivity the initial linear elastic modulus of steel was taken as 195 GPa [22] with
study of the load–deflection curve. These element sizes balance be- perfectly plastic stage after yield. The Poisson's ratio was fixed at 0.3.
tween the computational cost of FE simulations, and the accuracy of Due to similarity of the analytical results, the Von Mises stress distri-
key observations from the simulations. butions and failure modes of CP4 and CB2 are illustrated in Fig. 7 as ex-
Since this study focuses only on the Vierendeel failure, the models do amples. Yielding of the web surrounding the opening and formation of
not account for geometric imperfections due to cutting and fabrication. plastic hinges were observed, as assumed in the Vierendeel mechanism.
The imperfections contribute to the initiation of buckling in cellular The beam can carry an increasing load until the Vierendeel moment is
beams [23], but not to Vierendeel failure. The failure load was evaluated large enough to cause severe yielding in the Tee sections. For the webs
through nonlinear analysis by using the Newton–Raphson iterative with multiple openings, yielding first occurred in the opening nearest
method and the arc-length method. The structural analysis was con- to the point load on the low moment side. Large deflections about the
trolled by time step analysis. The load in each model was applied openings occurred before the beam failed. The failure behavior in

Low moment side High moment

MX
The first yield
MN

in the web Point load

Y
X MX
Z

40% of the failure load

481
MN
u 70% of the failure load
MX
Y
X
Z

The failure load MX

The failure load

Von Mises Stress, (MPa) Von Mises Stress, (MPa)
.055123 75.039 150.022 225.005 299.989 .081822 78.436 156.789 235.143 313.497
37.547 112.53 187.514 262.497 337.481 39.259 117.612 195.966 274.32 352.674

CP4 CB2

Fig. 7. Von Mises stress distribution and failure behavior in cases CP4 and CB2.
 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21 17

these FE model simulations agrees well with experimental observations
[2].
The FE shear loads are shown in Table 3, whereas the FE shear load at
the opening center line vs. deflection curves are illustrated in Fig. 8. Note
that the deflection curves are assessed only for those specimens with
corresponding experimental literature data. On an average, the shear
loads of the Vierendeel failure from FE analysis agree well with the ex-
perimental results. In Table 3, the average VFE/VTest is 0.99. The load–de-
flection curves from FE analysis deviate slightly from the experiments.
These curves may be divided into three different parts; an initial linear
elastic deformation, a non-linear deformation, and an ultimate stage
near failure with imminent unloading. The non-linear stage is due to
plasticity and propagation of yielding at the critical sections. Large plas-
tic deformations were observed in the ultimate stage.
Note that the deviation of the FE results from the actual test results
may be due to the limitation of available actual test data such as the im-
perfection, the steel ultimate strength, the stress-strain curve of the
tested steel in the elastic and the inelastic state, etc. The used FE
model is simulated based on the yield stress and without imperfection.
If the ultimate stress is significantly higher than the yield stress, the test
shear load will be higher than the FE load such as in cases CP1-CP4. On
the other hand, the actual imperfection may cause the test shear load
lower than the FE load such as in cases CB1-CB4. The load-deflection
curve in early state depends on deviation of the specified elastic modu-
lus from the actual properties. Since the assumption of perfectly plastic
stage after yield is used, the load-deflection curve is flat after the yield-
ing and may faster fail with shorter deflections comparing with the test
load such as in cases CP5-CP7.
4.2. Parametric study
To investigate the accuracy and limitations of the proposed method,
a parametric simulation study with the validated FE models was carried
out, with the aim gain further understanding of the Vierendeel failures
in cellular beams and steel beams with circular or elongated openings.
The main focus was on the effects of the opening geometry on the
Vierendeel mechanism, on load at failure, and on the moment-shear-
interaction. The steel grade S355 with fy = 355 MPa, and the material
model described in the previous section were employed throughout
this parametric study. A total of 434 beam models were simulated.
Both moment and shear capacities are important factors deciding
the loads at the Vierendeel failure. The moment and shear capacities
of BS EN 1993-1-1 and ANSI/AISC 360-10 used in the proposed method
were first validated against the FE results. The simulation based mo-
FE
ment and shear capacities, Mo,rd and VFE
o,rd, were derived from the models
in Fig. 9. The beam models with a circular opening at the support and
the mid span provide pure shear and pure moment at the opening
(a) Point Load
do
2d o 2d o 2d o 2d o
(b) Distribute Load
do H
20H 20H
Fig. 9. Models for evaluating the capacities: (a) shear capacity and (b) moment capacity.
centerline, respectively. The shear and moment capacities are also
used for beams with elongated openings, and for cellular beams which
have the same Tee area at opening center line. Note that the model
with an elongated opening cannot be used to assess the shear capacity
due to the high effect of the Vierendeel moment, even at the support.
The adjacent opening in a cellular beam also affects its shear capacity.
Therefore, the loads in such models are significantly degraded and not
the correct shear capacities. However, with a fixed Tee area at opening
center line and a fixed beam length, the models of cellular beams and
steel beams with circular or elongated openings provide approximately
similar moment capacities. Therefore, only the models in Fig. 9(b) were
used to estimate the moment capacities.
The models of UB203 × 133 × 25, UB254 × 146 × 43,
UB254 × 102 × 22, UB457 × 152 × 52 and UB610 × 229 × 140 with var-
ious opening ratios, namely 0.5, 0.65 and 0.8, were simulated and the re-
sults analyzed for the FE capacities. The section ratios, At,w/At,f, of the
investigated perforated sections are in the range from 0.05 to 0.47,
which covers the normal use of hot-rolled steel sections with openings.
Compared with the FE results, the deviations of shear capacities
VAo,rd and VBo,rd mainly depended on the section ratio as shown in
Fig. 10. The BS EN 1993-1-1 shear capacities are more conservative for
smaller value of section ratios up to 38%. Such small section ratio
means that the flange area is large compared to the web area. It implies
that the BS EN 1993-1-1 tends to underestimate the shear capacity of
the flange. For a large section ratio the flange area is relatively small,
and the web area dominates the shear capacity giving a less conserva-
tive estimate. Without the shear capacity of the flange, it can also be
shown that, with the ANSI/AISC 360-10, the shear capacities are much

Shear load (kN) Shear load (kN)

150 150

CP5
120 120
CP7

CP4 CB6 CP8

90 CB7 90
CB5
CP6
CP10
CB1
60 60
CB4 CP9
EP1
EP2
CB2
30 CB3 30
FE Model FE Model
Test Test
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 5 10 15 20
Deflection (mm) Deflection (mm)

Fig. 8. Shear load vs. deflection curves at mid span.

18 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21

At , w / At , f and UB610 × 229 × 140 were used in our further investigation. The
1.1 section ratios without openings are 0.51, 0.98 and 0.89, respectively.
The sections UB203 × 133 × 25, UB457 × 152 × 52 and
1.0 UB610 × 229 × 140 were modeled with a circular opening (CP) and
with an elongated circular opening (EP), as well as for cellular beams
0.9
(CB), as shown in Fig. 12. All the beams were simply supported. Due
to symmetry the models only simulated half of the beam length. The
0.8
beam length of each model was varied to provide various moments
0.7 and shear loads at the opening centerline. The parameters of each
group were as follows:
0.6 M oA,rd
,B
/ M oFE,rd - the circular opening models had opening depth ratios do/H of 0.5,

0.5
Vo ,rd / VoFE
B
, rd
VoA,rd / VoFE
, rd
0.4
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Capacity ratio
Fig. 10. Variation of the capacity ratio with the section ratio.
more conservative. Effects of the section ratios on the structural behav-
ior of steel beams have been studied previously [22]. However, the BS
EN 1993-1-1 or the ANSI/AISC 360-10 moment capacities are only
slightly conservative relative to the FE results. The deviations are less
than 7% and are independent of the section ratio. Overall, both shear
and moment capacities are conservative. Since BS EN 1993-1-1 provides
better member characteristic capacities, i.e., less conservative compared
to ANSI/AISC 360-10, the investigations in this section are mainly based
on PPM-BSEN.
To investigate the effects of section ratio on the moment-shear-
interaction curve, circular perforated beams sections with opening
depth ratios do/H of 0.5, 0.65, and 0.8 were simulated. The moment-
shear-interaction was investigated in terms of normalized moment
and shear ratios, m and v:
v ¼ V sd =V o;rd
m ¼ Msd =M o;rd
The normalized curves were similar for the various sections. As an
example, the curves with an opening depth ratio of 0.65 are depicted
in Fig. 11. The subscripts P-B and FE in the figure refer to PPM-BSEN
and finite element analysis, respectively. This indicates that the section
ratio only slightly affects the normalized moment-shear -interaction.
For this reason, only the models UB203 × 133 × 25, UB457 × 152 × 52
0.65 and 0.8;
- the elongated circular opening models had opening depth ratios
do/H of 0.5, 0.65 and 0.8, and opening widths lo of 2do and 3do; and
- the cellular beams had cellular opening ratios do/d of 0.8, 1 and
1.2, and spacing ratios s/do of 1.5 and 1.8.
Here, d is the beam depth of an original steel beam before cutting pro-
cesses and H is the perforated beam depth. For steel beams with multi-
ple openings such as cellular beams, the spacing between adjacent
openings also affects the beam failure. Cellular beams with close spac-
ing, s/do b 1.5, tend to fail by web-post buckling [23]. The labeling of the-
se models works as follows. The first symbol defines the type of the
opening, namely CP, EP or CB. The second symbol defines the opening
depth ratio or the cellular opening ratio. The third symbol provides
the opening width for EP or the spacing ratio for CB.
The stress distributions and the normalized moment-shear-
interaction curves from PPM-BSEN and finite element analysis (FE)
were similar for the CP and EP series in each investigated section. As
an example, the Von Mises stress distributions and the curves of
UB457 × 152 × 52 section are shown in Figs. 13 and 14. The yielding
propagations are depicted in Fig. 13(a). Under a combination of mo-
ment and shear load, the first yield appears at the edge of an opening,
at an angle from the vertical center line of about 0° to 27° on the low
moment side. The angle 0° is for pure moment whereas 27° is for almost
ð37Þ pure shear, as shown in Fig. 13(b). Variation of this angle at the first
yield agrees well with the findings in [12]. The beam continues to
ð38Þ allow further loading until the yield zone propagates and causes exten-
sive yielding in the Tee sections. Under such propagation, the
Vierendeel failure mechanism takes place. The formation of 4 plastic
hinges is clearly observed under a high shear ratio or with a long open-
ing width, as in the elongated openings shown in Fig. 13(b) and (c). For
beams with high moment ratios, the stresses around the opening are
Symmetrical
Point about mid-span
Load
(a)
do H

L/2 do
Point
Load

(b) do lo
H

L/2 do

Point
Load
(c)
do H

L/2 s

Fig. 11. Normalized moment-shear-interaction curves of the perforated beams with vari-
ous sections, with a fixed opening depth ratio at 0.65. Fig. 12. Beam models for the parametric study: (a) CP, (b) EP and (c) CB.
 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 13. Von Mises stress distributions of the UB457 × 152 × 52 section: (a) stress propagation, (b) failure stress of circular openings and (c) failure stress of elongated openings.
strongly affected by flexure. As a result, there is no clear configuration of
plastic hinges.
Note that to compute the Vierendeel moment resistance, the critical
Tee section at 25o as recommended by [8] can also be applied for an elon-
gated circular opening, as shown in Fig. 13(c). The critical location is very
close to the edge of an elongated opening. As observed in the FE stress dis-
tribution, the critical section location and angle as shown in Fig. 3 can be
approximately used to evaluate the Vierendeel moment capacity.
From the normalized moment-shear-interaction curves in Fig. 14, it
can be observed that the PPM curves are mostly conservative relative to
the FE results. The PPM curves tend to be less conservative for large open-
ing depths and widths, such as in EP 0.8- 3do, and tend to slightly overes-
timate for large moment ratios. Due to the underestimates of moment
and shear capacities, the design loads at failure are still mostly
conservative.
Fig. 14. Normalized moment-shear-interaction curves of UB457 × 152 × 52 sections with
circular and elongated openings.
19
Representatives of the stress distributions of UB203 × 133 × 25 sec-
tion for CB series are illustrated in Fig. 15. Similar to CP and EP series,
the first yield appeared at the edge of an opening. The plasticity later ex-
tended to the web-posts and the Tee sections. Under a high shear load,
such as with an opening near the support, also severe web-post yielding
was observed at failure. The compression force due to the shear load
transferred by the web-post may cause a buckling failure. The buckling
and Vierendeel mechanisms can interact. The yielding in the web post
in Fig. 15(a) and the plasticity in the Tee in Fig. 15(b) dominate these dif-
ferent failure behaviors. A large and thick web-post can prevent the web
post yielding. Due to the larger web area of CB 1.2–1.5 relative to CB 0.8–
1.5, there was less yielding of the web-post and the Vierendeel mecha-
nism was clearly observed, see Fig. 15(b). For a wide range of the stress
observations, the critical section location and angle in cellular beams
were similar to those observed with the CP and EP series, when the
web-post yielding was not particularly large.
The web-post yielding also affected the normalized interaction
curves as shown in Fig. 16(a). It can be observed that cellular beams
having the same cellular opening and spacing ratios but different sec-
tion sizes may have very different interaction curves. Note that the
UB457 × 152 × 52 section has the largest section ratio, so its relatively
large web area is best able to resists web-post yielding. As shown in
Fig. 16(a), web-post yielding affected the interactions least at high mo-
ment ratios (low shear load) and the cases with a small Tee area such as
in CB 1.2–1.5, and with a large section ratio such as in UB457 × 152 × 52.
For the cases with little web-post yielding, the proposed interaction
curves are generally conservative as shown in Fig. 16(b).
To study the validity of the proposed method with the use of mem-
ber capacities from BS EN 1993-1-1 and ANSI/AISC 360-10, the ratio of
the computed shear load to the FE load, V/VFE, at failure of all the
beam models was investigated along with the moment ratio, m, from
each method. These observations for CP, CB, EP with 2do opening
width, and EP with 3do opening width, are depicted in Fig. 17. The pro-
posed method mostly provided conservative results, especially for low
moment ratios. Less conservative results were obtained with the long
20 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21
(a)
Fig. 15. Von Mises stress distributions of UB203 × 133 × 25 section at failure: (a) yielding in the web post and (b) plasticity in the tee section.
openings in EP. The results from PPM-AISC were much more conserva-
tive than those from PPM-BSEN. This is explained by the very conserva-
tive nominal shear and Vierendeel moment capacities used. The
nominal Vierendeel moment capacity of ANSI/AISC 360-10 is not
completely derived from the plastic moment. Note that an overestimate
of about 3% in Fig. 17(d) were for EP 0.8- 3do case of UB203 × 133 × 25.
This illustrates a limitation of the proposed method.
The shear load ratios based on the proposed method and the SCI
P355 method are also compared in Fig. 17. Note that the section capac-
ities of BS EN 1993-1-1 are also used by the SCI P355 method, and the
PPM-BSEN and SCI P355 provide the similar results for Series CP and
CB. However, for EP series the proposed method improved the accuracy
of failure load estimates by about 16% on an average. Since both
methods use the same moment and shear capacities, the underestimate
of the Vierendeel moment resistance by the SCI P355 method is the like-
ly reason of conservative results. These results corroborate that the as-
sumptions about critical section location and angle that were made on
deriving the proposed method are well suited for the Vierendeel design.
5. Conclusions
This study proposed an alternative design method to check for the
Vierendeel failure of non-composite symmetric cellular beams and
steel beams with circular openings. The following conclusions were
supported by comparisons to literature curated beam loading experi-
ments, and by finite element simulations covering wide practical ranges
of parametrized geometries.
- The proposed method was derived based on a quadratic nonlinear
relationship of three types of action that were simplified and
Fig. 16. Normalized moment-shear-interaction curves of cellular beams: (a) effects of web-post yielding and (b) the UB457 × 152 × 52 section.
(b)
normalized for considering the joint effects. These three co-
existing actions are moment, shear, and Vierendeel bending mo-
ment. The Vierendeel bending moment was simplified based on
the critical section location and its angle, estimated from prior finite
element analyses. Because these actions are simultaneously consid-
ered by a failure criterion, there is no need to calculate an “effective
web thickness” as in prior methods. The accuracy of the proposed
method was investigated in terms of the design loads at failure by
comparison to 20 experiments curated from literature.
- To further investigate the accuracy and limitations of the proposed
method, a total of 434 finite element (FE) beam simulations, with var-
ious beam section properties, opening types and opening geometries
were simulated. The opening types included circular opening (CP),
elongated circular opening (EP) and cellular beams (CB). The pro-
posed method was validated in terms of the normalized moment-
shear-interaction curves. It was found that relative to the FE simula-
tions, the proposed method used with BS EN 1993-1-1 member
capacities provided interaction curves that were mostly conservative.
However, slight overestimates occurred under high moment ratios,
and for models with elongated circular openings that had large open-
ing depths and widths.
- The conservative design load estimates were mainly due to the mem-
ber capacities recommended in each of the currently practiced stan-
dards. Compared with the FE shear load at failure, results based on
ANSI/AISC 360-10 member capacities were more conservative than
those based on BS EN 1993-1-1 member capacities.
- When based on BS EN 1993-1-1, the proposed method and the SCI
P355 method provided similar design loads for circular openings
(CP) and for cellular beams (CB). However, with elongated openings
(EP) the proposed method improved the accuracy of failure load
 P. Panedpojaman et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 112 (2015) 10–21
(a)
(c)
Fig. 17. Variation of V/VFE with the moment ratio for each method: (a) Series CP cases, (b) Series CB cases, (c) Series EP with 2do opening width, and (d) Series EP with 3do opening width.
estimates, to about 16% on an average. The assumed critical section lo-
cations and angles, in the derivation of the proposed model, appear to
support design against Vierendeel failure with various types of the
openings.
The proposed method allows simple and practical estimates about
the Vierendeel bending moment failure, as well as the moment and
shear failures. Since the prediction accuracy of a Vierendeel failure is im-
proved by the proposed method, more economical designs could also be
achieved. As usual, the design equations rely on nominal capacities, and
safety factors reducing the nominal strength must be applied in practi-
cal design, to provide a margin of safety.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Prince of Songkla University,
Thailand, for providing financial support to this research project (con-
tract no. ENG550149S). We sincerely thank the copy-editing service of
the Research and Development Office and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Seppo Karrila
for their support and valuable comments.
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